A Passion.....

As you've probably guessed by now, I am passionate about many things. If you haven't figured that out, you at least know when I do something I do it wholeheartedly. Every once in a while I get the urge to do a "Big Project." When I was much younger my mother taught me to cross stitch and many a project came out of that love, but my latest kick has been quilting.

I've always loved the look and meaning of quilts! I admired the work that goes into them and as a result of that work, the care and attention each quilter puts into creating their work. Each project as different as the quilter who made it. So somewhere in the latter half of 2007, I got the urge to start a "Big Project" and decided that I wanted to try quilting for myself. So I very sheepishly contacted a family friend who is a quilting/crafting master, asking her if she would be willing to help me learn the craft.

We're going to take a slight detour and I'm going to tell you a little about this wonderful woman, Mrs. Probst. My father and her husband were in Bible Study Fellowship before I was even born and my mother knew her from BSF too. But her quilting skills had the most impact on my life after my younger sister died when I was eight. Mrs. Probst took all of my sister's clothing and created a picture quilt with her clothing. It was one of the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my short life. So when I wanted to learn, I knew who to ask.

Mrs. Probst replied to my request with a enthusiastic affirmation and I started on the journey to create my first quilt. After talking about different things I could do, we decided, to avoid me getting discouraged and frustrated, I would make a quilt by machine instead of hand and it would be a liberated quilt. Liberated quilts are basically where you form the blocks by taking a basic shape, like a square or triangle, and sewing on pieces until it's large enough for a block and then cutting the block to the correct size.

One of my favorite blocks. Made out of all blue fabrics.

I worked away for over a year at my quilt blocks and finally I had enough to make a quilt a little over the size of a twin bed. I later discovered that to my joy, without knowing it I had made enough blocks to make a quilt that fit a college sized twin bed. My quilt of course now brightens up my dorm room with it's presence. I finished the piecing all the blocks together in the early part of 2009. Since I was leaving that following fall to go to school, I knew I wouldn't have time to finish the actual quilting myself. So I turned my precious quilt over to a friend of Mrs. Probst to machine quilt it for me. I wanted quilting that was not traditional, because my quilt was ANYTHING but traditional!

The backing fabric for my quilt

June 9th, 2009 was the day my quilt was finished. I finished attaching the binding on my family's trip out West to Colorado for a family reunion. I calculated that the binding alone took me about 15 hours to attach. I also calculated the time it took me to complete one of the three types of the blocks included in my quilt (see below). This particular block was the fastest to make and took about a half an hour to complete. To complete that type (not sew them into rows) took me a grand total of 24 hours. So if I extrapolate that out to the other two types, I have at LEAST 87 hours invested in the quilt.

There are four blocks in this photo

I entered it in the county fair that fall and received Reserve Grand Champion in my class. I was ecstatic! It turned out pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself! :)

"College Bound"

So once my quilt was done, I was planning the next one! This quilt I decided was going to be a traditional quilt pattern and be done completely by hand. Soon the selection for fabrics ensued! This is always the hardest part for me. I love bright colors and and am always willing to put things together that are bright but not obnoxiously so. This project is also going to be a double sized quilt, so the biggest project I've attempted yet. I've currently pieced 14 of the 23 rows of blocks. This does not include the three boarders that will go around the outside.......or the binding.......or the quilting. Basically I've got a long way to go, but I can't wait to see the finished product! Keep your eyes peeled for more updates!!

Tumbling blocks

Boarders! The green will end up being the size of the pink when attached to the quilt!